New Grad starting off in ICU

You should expect lots & lots of learning - both in the class, and face-to-face with very ill (fragile) patients. Besides the normal facility specific knowledge about how you handle charting/labs/admits/discharges, there will be tons of technical info to internalize. Titrating multiple vasoactive drips, insulin drips, propofol drips, CVVHD, interpreting labs, vents, rapid infusers, handling patients with sepsis, DIC, PE (& trauma, if they're admitted to your unit), mystery infections. And lots, LOTS more!

Congrats to all of the new grads that are starting out in the ICU. I know this is sort of off topic but I was wondering if you all had any tips to share about your interview process for the ICU? Did anyoen get an ICU job without previous experience because alot of the posts talk about being an ICU tech. I work as a nursing assistant at Sentara in the float pool and I have rotated into the ICU a few times but I wasn't strictly there. Will this help? I also plan to do my capstone (preceptorship some call it) in the ICU this spring as class credit. It is only 2 months but will this look good for me to have? Did anyone do anything else that they felt helped them to land an ICU job as a new grad. Please offer any help because I am a graduating senior this May and I want so badly to start out in the ICU becuse the days that I worked on the floor as the tech I enjoyed it so much. OFfer any advice or help... it is greatly appreciated.

i didnt work as a tech in the icu but i was a tech on the oncology floor...i think experience working on a floor period is beneficial. however, i did do my preceptorship in the STICU

nurse2be09,

Thanks for sharing your experience. Based on your update, it sounds like your internship is going well and you are getting well-rounded experience prior to starting on the MICU. Best wishes with the ER rotation.

Two weeks to go until I start my internship. I'm ready to begin and started reviewing content. However, I'm also trying to enjoy the last bit of vacation time I have left too.

I graduated a bsn program may '08 and went directly to CCU (Critical Care Unit) at a local city hospital. Our orientation consisted of what they called a consortium. We went to classes (lectures) at different hospitals in the area where nurses from different hospitals also participated. We got to see if the "grass was greener". Anyway, it's been a year and it was the most terrifying, rewarding and self confidence building year. I still have tons of questions but now I'm able to answer some for other people. I don't "study" at home per say, I read nursing journals, nursing2009, critical care nursing2009, ajn, etc. I look thinks up at home when I get a patient that I'm not so sure about. I also work with a fantastic group of intillegent nurses ranging from 1yr with me to 30+yrs. I had a 6mos preceptorship on the unit, the first 5 mos on day shift then 1mos on nights where I've stayed. There are nights where you have time to ask why am I doing this, but then there are the nights where your just trying to keep the pt. alive at all costs. Honestly, I didn't want to go into the CCU right out of school. I thought everyone needed 1yr on med surg first. I was a cna/unit secretary and my nurse manager gave my app. to the ccu manager. She was not easy on me in the interview. Regardless, looking back now with 1 year gone by, it's the best job in the world. Wether you save a life or help someone pass with dignity and without pain, you can't beat it!

Nurse2be09, thank you for sharing your progress! It sounds like your residency is very comprehensive! I am into week 6 of my orientation, and I will be spending the majority of my time on the unit. I think the 4 weeks of rotation on a med-surg unit and in the ER would be very beneficial to the ICU RN. Even with only 2 patients, I see time-management as my biggest obstacle. It is difficult for any new RN to learn to balance the responsibilites and gravity of a new career. New nurses are very task-oriented by nature, so I think a solid orientation is important. As far as my orientation, it is 22 weeks long, with the last 3-4 weeks being on the night shift. We have at least 1 day of in-class review each week, which has been helpful for the most part. I will have several opportunities to "loop" to other floors, such as ER, cath lab, surgery, etc. I don't think it will be as helpful as actually spending a few weeks providing care on those floors, but it will help to at least see what goes on. Overall I am happy with my orientation so far, and I feel that they are making a comprehensive effort to ease me into the profession and the ICU. Good luck to everyone working in the ICU! It is hard, but I hope that it will be worth all of the hard work!!

I am also a new grad in the ICU. I graduated a bsn program in may. Anyway, I am so jelous of these great residency, orientation pograms I am eading about. I got a 7wk orientation that involved 2-3 shifts a week and then a few classes. I really wish I had a well rounded orientation like soem of the other ones I have read about. I love it there, but I am still really nervous every day I go to work. I guess it will be like that until I have been there a little longer. Well, good luck to eveyone.

you only got SEVEN WEEKS?!!? that is not cool.